Hello.
I would like to ask some advice about what happens to joint debts once a couple have separated. I will try and be brief but accurate with the facts so that maybe (hopefully) one of you can relate and advise. Sorry it's a bit long :( We are not entitled to legal aid and just cannot afford to pay a solicitor unless we absolutely have to so any advice or experience with this greatly appreciated.
My partner and his ex split around 3 years ago. They were cohabiting but not married. They had/still have a joint mortgage and a joint loan. She has refused to pay any payments to either of them since they separated. He works in a profession which means he will lose his job if he is given a CCJ or similar, he simply cannot have unmanageable debt. She doesn't care and knows this about his job so has dumped him with all the debt in the hope (we think) that he will worry and be forced to pay them all off to save his job whilst she walks away from the joint debts.
Mortgage:
She moved out of the jointly owned house (her choice I will add) and he agreed to stay there and pay the full mortgage for a few months whilst it was put on the market to be sold. She then refused to agree to sell it, refused to reply to letters he sent her asking to discuss, refused to meet with solicitors present and ignored letters from his solicitors about it. He could not afford to pay it alone and has struggled to do so since. He has now stopped paying it as it simply isn't possible to afford on his salary alone, it was a large mortgage base don both of their full time wages.
He has had the house valued recently and it is worth a lot less (about 30k) than what is left on the mortgage. The only thing she has said in over 2 years is that she will sign the forms to sell only if he agrees to pay all fees and make up the 30k needed to cover the negative equity. Just to add that she has a new rented home and doesn't want to live in the jointly owned property, she has shown no interest in it in all this time. He has looked into getting it rented out but the mortgage wouldn't be covered by the rental income and would require a large sum of money for works and decorating to bring it up to rental standard.
Does anyone have any idea of how he can make her take responsibility for a jointly owned property she has walked away from? Ideally he'd like to apply to court to force the sale and split the negative equity into two loans split equally between them, is this likely? Also he paid the rather large deposit when they purchased it - will this be taken into account?
Joint Loan:
This loan was taken out when they were together, the loan was for her and he co signed it. She agreed to make all payments and it was paid on time from her acct each month until they separated, he has never paid it. Then when they separated she immediately stopped paying and told him she would no longer pay it. The loan paid for her expensive car and other personal items, all of which she took when they separated. She still has this car and he is sick at the thought that she has dumped the loan on him to force him to pay it whilst she is still driving around in the car.
Again, any advise of how to force someone to take responsibility for this? Can he apply to court to have the financial situation decided by a judge. He just wants what's fair and to both have to take responsibility for joint debts, not to have to take it all on whilst she drives away in her nice car without looking back.
Thank you for reading, I know it's long - I have also posted this in legal...